Let me be clear: I don’t take any joy in announcing this personal vital stat to the world. In fact, it upsets me to even type the paragraph above. However, doing so makes makes me accountable, and I’m going to need that because…

So I’m Running A Marathon

Here is my brother packing an extra 32 pounds of weights. He isn’t obese like me.I ran my first half-marathon 15 months ago. Since, I have run 5 half-marathons. These challenges have kept my weight (and health) in check. Because honestly, it is not fun to lug around 70 pounds of dead weight while exercising, let alone running for 2+ hours.

My brother, who is a talented sub-6:00 min/mile runner, now adds 30+ pound weights on our runs together to make his pace challenging. It’s actually quite comforting to hear him huffing and puffing finally in rhythm with me — misery loves company.

I had 2 more half-marathons on the calendar when I decided that I need to really scare the crap out of myself to illicit the change I was seeking. The thought of running 2 and half hours with “excess baggage” is scary; running 5+ hours is simply terrifying. And so, it was decided I would run a marathon — I’m participating in the San Diego Marathon in June.

But I need to raise $3,000 to fight leukemia

I can’t run this marathon without support, so I joined The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society’s (LLS) Team In Training program. They are going to help me finish my first marathon with coaching, mentoring, group training runs, and moral support. They will probably also see me shed tears from both pain, and then joy.

In return for their support, I’ve committed to raising some funds — like, a lot of funds, as in $3,200 a lot — to help find cures and better treatments for leukemia, lymphoma, Hodgkin’s disease and myeloma.

Leukemia is the most common type of cancer in children and adolescents ages 0 to 19 years, accounting for 27 percent of all types of cancer occuring among children and adolescents younger than 20 years.

So here comes the plea — I need your donation. Think of your donation as taking care of two birds with one stone.

It will improve my quality of life by enabling me to run my obese butt across 26.2 miles.

It will improve the quality of life for patients and their families with blood cancers.

You could win an iPad or MacAir!

I’m not going to ask you for your money and run (ha!); I’m also going to give you something back (maybe) — every donation you kindly make enters you into one of the following raffles.

Every $30 donation enters you into a monthly raffle for a $100 Amazon Giftcard. So if you don’t win the first month, you have two more chances if you donate again!